Welcome to our Summer SIAL Special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, brought to you by our friends at Caddle! In this episode, meet meet Guillermo Anderson, COO for St. Brigid's creamery - maker of fantastic bespoke butter right from grass fed Jersey Cows, and you all know how much we like our butter!
Welcome to our Summer SIAL Special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, brought to you by our friends at Caddle! In this episode, meet Guillermo Anderson, COO for St. Brigid's creamery - maker of fantastic bespoke butter right from grass fed Jersey Cows, and you all know how much I like my butter!
Sylvain Charlebois 00:04
Welcome to our summer SIAL special bonus episodes of The Food Professor podcast, presented by Caddle.
Michael LeBlanc 00:13
As the official podcast for the SIAL Food Innovation show this year in Montreal. Sylvain and I had the opportunity to interview the leading thought leaders, brands and makers in the food industry. As the saying goes, these are their stories.
Sylvain Charlebois 00:26
Stay tuned for Season 5 of The Food Professor podcast debuting August 29. We'll be back on the mic together live with our particular brand of truth, insight, interviews, custom research from our friends at Caddle and yes, a little bit of fun.
Sylvain Charlebois 00:47
On this episode, meet Guillermo Anderson, COO for St. Brigid's Creamery - maker of fantastic bespoke butter right from grass fed Jersey cows and you all know how much I like my butter and butter gate.
Michael LeBlanc 01:05
Guillermo, welcome to The Food Professor podcast. How are you doing this afternoon?
Guillermo Anderson 01:09
I'm excellent. I'm excellent. Thanks. Thanks very much for having me.
Michael LeBlanc 01:12
Fantastic. Well, you stopped by and you handed me some liquid gold in a-, in a cube.
Sylvain Charlebois 01:16
Liquid gold.
Michael LeBlanc 01:17
Liquid gold. It's not-, that's not the brand, but when I looked at this butter, I said we got to talk to this-, this gentleman and learn the story. So, thanks for stopping by. Tell us who you are and what you do for a living.
Guillermo Anderson 01:28
So, my name is Guillermo Anderson. I love that I get to help Farmer Bill Van Nes and Cindy Van Nes build their butter company called St. Brigid's Creamery. They have a very-, seems to be working for now, which I love, kind of third-party model to their operation. So, they rely on a number of professionals across the chain to help them in their efforts and I love that I get to look after the operation and the marketing side of things. As well as customer service and everything else in between.
Michael LeBlanc 02:08
And what's your-, and what's your background, how did you get into this?
Guillermo Anderson 02:11
How long-, how much time do you got?
Michael LeBlanc 02:14
Let's say we're on an elevator ride up to the 10th floor, long.
Guillermo Anderson 02:17
It's been-
Sylvain Charlebois 02:18
Maybe, fifth floor.
Guillermo Anderson 02:19
It's been really nice, looking back at least, not quite the experience, as I'm looking ahead, but yeah, it's been-, it's been this beautiful scenic route to get to where I am. I worked in marketing and advertising for seven years after graduating from McMaster, DeGroote School of Business.
Sylvain Charlebois 02:39
Because Brussels Ontario is located, where exactly?
Guillermo Anderson 02:43
That is-, the farm is located two, two and a half hours west-, west of Toronto.
Sylvain Charlebois 02:48
Okay.
Guillermo Anderson 02:49
That's where the Van Nes raise and graze.
Sylvain Charlebois 02:52
So, you went to McMaster and then you went to-, you always-, are you from Brussels?
Guillermo Anderson 02:58
No. So I'm-, I'm born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I came here in 2000, finished high school, did my undergrad and no, many things happened in the way I've never lived in Brussels or outside of Brussels. We met funnily enough through a-, just happenstance, I bought a retired jersey, I bought a cow that he was, you know, getting rid of that he was harvesting that he was sending to the butchers. I-, as part of this scenic route that I've taken, I trained as a butcher whole animal butchery and during COVID, I jumped at the opportunity to buy a retired dairy cow that I've never worked with, that I was really interested in curious about and little did I know that he was in the process of either acquiring a company that was making a gorgeous butter similar to this one, or setting up shop and starting his own.
Guillermo Anderson 03:59
And so yeah, right place, right time, I simply offered, you know, with a lot of excitement, a lot of interest I just offered if there was ever an opportunity for me to lend a hand and anything related to what he was doing. I saw how special his practice was, his management was, I now-, learning-, having learned so much more about that. I-, I was very fortunate to be able to be there to offer that help that he, you know, took on and we've been working together for-, it's going to be three years now. This June, we launched in June 2022 and then just to finish answering the question that you first asked, after marketing and advertising, I essentially spent the next 10 years in restaurants cooking, serving-
Michael LeBlanc 04:52
Food. You've been-, you're a veteran of the food industry.
Guillermo Anderson 04:54
That took me to butchery that took me to market gardening and then nice little round back to marketing, St. Brigid's
Sylvain Charlebois 05:02
The product itself. Tell us more about the butter.
Guillermo Anderson 05:06
Absolutely.
Sylvain Charlebois 05:07
What's different, what's unique?
Guillermo Anderson 05:08
So, in our supply, manage context, this is a very unique, very special butter. Many people, the biggest compliment that people pay us, regardless of where they're from, doesn't matter if they're from South America, like I am, Eastern Europe, South Asia, what's really beautiful is in our diverse, you know, fabric, that-, that is kind of that so many families, regardless of where they're from, they literally, after trying this butter, they say that this butter reminds them of the good stuff that they would have had back home, in their childhoods when they visited, when they've traveled.
Michael LeBlanc 05:46
I see it's grass fed, for example, I guess-
Guillermo Anderson 05:48
It's grass fed.
Michael LeBlanc 05:50
That's a starting point.
Guillermo Anderson 05:51
That's a starting point and it's not just that it's-, it's also the fact that it's a jersey breed. It's a jersey herd and it's not just the breed, it's then how they are grass fed, how they are raised.
Michael LeBlanc 06:03
Because that's a hard thing in Ontario, isn't it, because yeah, we've got winter here like, that's what I hear from the industry. It's hard to have a big grass-fed industry here because it's hard to raise the animals and all that stuff.
Sylvain Charlebois 06:15
And the entire industry revolves around one breed, Holstein.
Guillermo Anderson 06:19
That's right. So less than 4% of Canadian dairies use a non-Holstein breed. So, I love that we get to showcase.
Michael LeBlanc 06:26
Now why is-, why is that Sylvain and Guillermo? Is that because of cost efficiency or is-
Sylvain Charlebois 06:32
That's-, that's the belief, yeah, that's the belief and of course, the idea of-, behind supply management is to compensate farmers equally, fairly and I want to emphasize on the word equally, so supply management, the legacy of supply manager is to make farmers cost focused, as much as possible. So, if you check-, if you know how much you're gonna get every month, you want to bring down costs as much as possible.
Michael LeBlanc 07:00
Right.
Sylvain Charlebois 07:00
And so-, and Holstein tends to cost less to feed.
Michael LeBlanc 07:05
I see, jerseys cost more, right, right.
Guillermo Anderson 07:07
And, you know, the Holstein essentially became the powerhouse of production also, it was very convenient that during those decades that we were very much against the idea of fat, and you know, we sell fat as being something that we wanted to avoid a Holstein producing less components per kilo of milk.
Sylvain Charlebois 07:28
Dairy genetics have always been focused on making a better Holstein, there's not much money thrown at jerseys, I'll tell you that.
Guillermo Anderson 07:36
And as we know, based on what you know, Sylvain was saying we farmers have been incented to just optimize production and leave it at that, it's you know, fewer producers that are wanting to add value to that product and so what we have here in this butter I think is-, is a really nice moment of having a farmer that is really eager to showcase what this husbandry, this management, which is trying to look at more holistically what it can do and so what we end up with is a butter that people, you know, it they remind them of the good butters from abroad.
Guillermo Anderson 07:36
I loved learning that before as a blind management, that jersey was called the queen of quality. So obviously, we have this beautiful heritage and legacy of these breeds that just simply pack more protein, fat, and, you know, components per kilo of milk and I love that Bill Van Nes has-, has really made it his life's work to not just work with the breed, but then how he's managing that breed. So going back to grass fed, absolutely. This is a new standard. It really was only I believe, instituted in 2021, I believe, where there was-, the standard was published and yeah, grass fed does not mean 100% grass, in our Canadian context, it's at least 70 to 75% grass, 25 to 30% grain.
Michael LeBlanc 08:59
No palmitic acid, I would bet.
Guillermo Anderson 09:02
No, no, none of that stuff and yeah, you know, butter gate was-, was-, was good to us and I will say though, it's still-
Michael LeBlanc 09:12
Your brand is basically special, not big. I mean, what's-, what kind of production do you-, like how many-, help-, help our listeners understand the scale of your business and-, and like a lot of businesses come here, not all-, I want to grow, I want to grow and grow, I'm going international, I want to scale that may not be the case for all businesses, that may not be the case for your business.
Guillermo Anderson 09:31
Exactly and obviously that-, that does present a series of challenges that we will have to face because we're not aspiring to play that game the way we understand it needs to be played and so yeah, I couldn't really tell you what other big producers produce. I can tell you that we-, we're on our way to reach this herd’s capacity and at which point we know where our ceiling is.
Michael LeBlanc 09:58
Okay, can you share how many bars that-
Guillermo Anderson 10:00
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 10:00
I don't want to ask you a proprietary question.
Guillermo Anderson 10:03
I don't. I could be mistaken, but I don't think that's proprietary. Yeah, I'd be so happy to share that. In the first year, for example, we made-, you know, we sold around eight pallets of butter, having made maybe 11 pallets, it's 130 cases per pallet 25 bars per case and.
Michael LeBlanc 10:21
Okay, that gives me a very good sense of scale and-, and if I was to buy your product, where typically would I find it?
Guillermo Anderson 10:22
So, you're-, so you're absolutely looking at the specialty retail category and that ecosystem of independence, we serve Whole Foods, we serve some of the you know, Pattison Group banners from out west.
Michael LeBlanc 10:42
Yeah, I was just on a panel with Pattison Group, actually, they were talking about how they-, how they-, I always ask them how they ingest innovation and because they've got multiple banners, some are more focused on-, and then if they if it works they-, Sylvain, it was really interesting, and Guillermo was talking, if it works at this level, the smaller banner, there's the opportunity to escalate it all the way up to Save On Foods in the organic aisle, but you've got to hit a volume threshold, it is different than the smaller banners.
Guillermo Anderson 11:09
And so, precisely because we are very much not vying to scale or we cannot also scale the way many other producers or manufacturers here would, you know, what, what makes us special is what limits us and I want to find a way to make that sustainable, and to make that, you know, financially viable and to make that something that we can then find efficiencies and also that we still have an opportunity which we're limited because of this third party situation that we're in, it's not our own processing and manufacturing, were limited in the value that we can add to let's say, our skim milk or the buttermilk and so there's I think these opportunities to rethink how a artisanal dairy producer and manufacturer, marketer, at least, can remain sustainable in our context and I'm really excited that this butter is helping us do that.
Michael LeBlanc 12:13
What do you think of the color of that butter, Sylvain?
Sylvain Charlebois 12:14
It's just stunning.
Michael LeBlanc 12:15
Describe it to the listeners?
Sylvain Charlebois 12:17
It's stunning. I gotta tell you, as soon as-, I mean, you're expecting now as a Canadian, you're trained to look at pale butter.
Guillermo Anderson 12:24
That's right, that's right.
Sylvain Charlebois 12:26
You know, very light yellow.
Guillermo Anderson 12:28
That's right.
Sylvain Charlebois 12:28
As soon as you open up the wrapping, you clearly see bright yellow, it really stands out. It just shocks you really. So, what's, what's behind that?
Guillermo Anderson 12:41
I compared that against my April piece of butter, April, it's been at least five, six months beef you know since the cows had any grass and why was it that my April butter was more yellow than their September butter, so yeah, you have to absolutely give it up to the jersey for that, but in then it's management that jersey alone doesn't do it but with a manager with an owner like Bill who ensures that the jersey can be out from the time of the-, when the when the dandelions come out is when the time that the cows go out in May until October, November.
Guillermo Anderson 12:41
What's happening there, so you have to-, you have to give it up to the mighty jersey, that beautiful thing that produces almost 30% less milk than the powerhouse that is the Holstein, she packs, you know, whereas a Holstein can produce three to 4% butterfat per kilo of milk Jersey can hit five, five and a half, even high fives sometimes and in that fat is where they pass on the beta carotene and that beta carotene comes from the grass that they absorb. So, for example, one of my favorite anecdotes is that I came across a piece of butter that a competitor made in September, a grass fed competitor made in September and you would think that a September grass fed product from a properly grass fed operation would be as yellow as ours.
Michael LeBlanc 14:11
Not a bad year this year.
Guillermo Anderson 14:12
Not a bad year, earlier we-, I will share videos of this beautiful day that we had on May 4 When the cows first went out on-, on grass.
Michael LeBlanc 14:20
Star Wars fans, no doubt, right.
Guillermo Anderson 14:22
It was the spring frolic.
Michael LeBlanc 14:23
May the 4th be with you.
Guillermo Anderson 14:24
The force, It was with them. It was with us, it was beautiful.
Michael LeBlanc 14:28
So you know-, we have-, we have to connect this brand to Uncle Bob's popcorn. Like the brilliant white bespoke popcorn that I now enjoy just cries out for your product.
Sylvain Charlebois 14:41
Yeah, it would be a good marriage. Oh, yeah.
Guillermo Anderson 14:43
So where are they?
Michael LeBlanc 14:45
They're in your part of the world actually. Yeah, they're in part-, we're gonna connect-, we're gonna connect those dots because it's a marriage made in-, in heaven. Sylvain, bring us home.
Sylvain Charlebois 14:53
Listen, thank you so much for joining us today on The Food Professor podcasts. I do think that-, that Canadians under-appreciate high quality butter, because we're trained to really accept what we get at the grocery store, without recognizing that there are lots of choices out there and that's the one choice-, you bring more choice, quality choice to the table. So, thank you so much for the work you do.
Guillermo Anderson 15:22
It's not my work, it's the work of Bill and those who are really pushing to elevate our already amazing dairy product and just if I may, on the-, on the training, you have to see a kid go you know, eat this butter, enjoy this butter. So, I love that despite what's available on the shelf, they absolutely.
Sylvain Charlebois 15:41
Recognize,
Guillermo Anderson 15:42
That we-, it has not gone past our programming to enjoy what's better for us. So that yellow, that naturally occurring yellow is something that I hope we never forget regardless of what is available on a shelf.
Michael LeBlanc 15:55
Well, listen, thank you. Thanks again for stopping in at SIAL at our-, continued success and let's keep in touch and we're gonna connect you with Uncle Bob. So, there you go.
Guillermo Anderson 16:03
Let's go. Legendary popcorn.
Sylvain Charlebois 16:04
Good idea.
Guillermo Anderson 16:04
Thank you.
Sylvain Charlebois 16:05
Thanks for tuning into our summer SIAL bonus interview series. Michael and I will be back live on the microphone together in late August. I'm The Food Professor, Sylvain Charlebois.
Michael LeBlanc 16:19
And I am Michael LeBlanc, media entrepreneur, consumer growth consultant and keynote speaker. Safe travels everyone. See you back in August.
Sylvain Charlebois 16:28
Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
butter, Sylvain, holstein, grass fed, jersey, food, brigid, opportunity, work, cows, love, breed, Brussels, yellow, Guillermo, management, grass, brand, nes, banners